


With a Grain of Rice

by blueelvewithwings



Series: Spanking Sunday [68]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Aftercare, Belting, Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Multi, Non-Sexual Kink, Spanking, Subspace, Theorizing about Consent Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 14:34:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30023253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueelvewithwings/pseuds/blueelvewithwings
Summary: Cisco is being so overwhelmed by vibes that day that he feels only vaguely tethered to reality, and needs something very physical to ground him again. Luckily, his partners are very happy to help him out.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway/Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells
Series: Spanking Sunday [68]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1154240
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	With a Grain of Rice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SophiaCatherine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophiaCatherine/gifts).



> So, when I wrote my sub!Len Monster Fic and posted it last summer, Soph asked me to write a spanking loosely based on a scenario that's only hinted at in 'A Place of Worship and Adoration', which is a spanking while the sub is kneeling on rice. Obviously, it's a different ship now, and also a different situation... but look, Soph, it only took me most of a year to write the rice spanking!

Cisco shuddered as he walked towards the living room, putting his hand against the wall, letting it glide over the rough wallpaper, feeling the dips and bumps and paint structure under his fingers. It felt real. Good. Not much had felt real today yet.

He stepped into the living room and blinked a few times until he could see more clearly, then looked around until his eyes landed on Harry. He was seated on the couch, a book in hand, but was looking at Cisco now. By the look on his face, just finding Harry in their living room had taken Cisco quite a while.

“Ramon, are you okay?”, he asked, and Cisco hesitated. Was he okay? Why was he even here, what did he want? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was in the living room. He was looking for Hartley.

“Where’s Hartley?” he asked, looking around. Somehow it took longer than one turn to see Harry again, and Harry wasn’t sitting on the sofa anymore, but standing in front of Cisco.

“I’ll take that as a no. Hartley is at STAR Labs, working on that sound-speed project with Barry. He peeked into the bedroom to say goodbye, when he left.”

Cisco hummed and leaned against Harry. Harry was nice and solid. Real. Real was good. His fingers found his way to Harry’s shirt, bunching it up, running his thumbs over the threads in it, soft and well-worn and –

The world turned blue and Cisco stumbled, tiredly looking around until he could see Harry standing next to their bed, glaring into his drawer before closing it and opening Hartley‘s instead, pulling out a shirt that Hartley had stolen from Cisco a few months ago and pulling it on with a slight, mischievous smile on his face. That was Cisco’s favourite shirt. Since when did Harry even like nerd shirts?

– “-sco? Cisco, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Cisco blinked, blearily looking up at Harry before closing his eyes again and letting himself fall against him again. When had he even pulled back from that?

“Vibes are loud”, he murmured, wrapping his arms around Harry’s solid, real form and linking his hands together behind Harry’s back. Not touching things or people with his hands meant less vibes.

“Okay… okay.” There was a pause, and even in his half-delirious state Cisco could picture Harry’s helpless face without pulling back to look at it. Harry was the fixer among them, always needing to work on solutions, or at least throwing white board erasers at the problem. Cisco had no idea how he, the autistic emotions-are-hard guy, had managed to wrangle himself into a relationship with two other guys and found _himself_ to be the most emotionally astute one. Before that tangent could lead him down to another vibe, he quickly shook his head and gripped Harry’s upper arm, hard.

“Hurt me.” When that got him nothing but a vacant, non-plussed stare, he sighed. “Like. Physically. Helps me be more grounded and not… float off into vibes all the time.”

Harry nodded, clearly still not quite understanding. “You want me to punch you?”

Had he not been desparate for someone and something to pull him out of his head and ground him in his physical reality, he’d have laughed. Like this, all he could do was shake his head.

“No. Just – spank me, Harry. Harshly. Like… not mean, just… make it hurt.”

That seemed to be enough of an explanation, and Harry nodded again, looking more at ease now. “Okay… okay, yeah, that I can do. Should have thought of that.” Cisco allowed himself a smile and pulled Harry in to kiss him before stepping away to undo his pants.

“Where do you want me?”

Now that he wasn’t trying too hard anymore to come up with the right emotional response to whatever Cisco was showing on his face at the moment, Harry had gone straight into fix-it mode, already looking around and directing Cisco to the far wall.

“There. I want you there, on your knees, facing the wall. You can brace against it. But don’t kneel down yet, I’ll be right back. Get naked in the meantime.”

“Yes, Sir”, Cisco nodded, already halfway out of his sweatpants. When had he even put those on, he’d started the day in jeans? But he’d also somehow come back from a vibe and suddenly been home earlier in the day… he suspected Harry or Hartley or both of them behind that mystery. Maybe even Barry, he’d been known to quickly get Cisco home and into comfy, non-overstimulating clothes on days like this, when the vibes were overwhelming him.

Just a few moments later (or a few hours, what was time even?) Cisco was naked and standing on the hardwood floor next to the carpet, facing the wall, as instructed. Just as he was wondering if he should go to search for Harry, the man in question came back into the living room through the kitchen, carrying a small cup. He gave Cisco a small smile, stepped up next to him, and showed him the cup. In it were about two handfuls of uncooked rice, and Cisco tilted his head at them.

“You want me to drink rice?”

Harry smiled indulgently, kissed his cheek and then bent down and poured the rice out on the floor.

“I want you to kneel on it, Cisco.”

Cisco blinked at the white, slender grains on the floor. They made a good contrast against the wood. He wondered why Harry wanted him to kneel on sticky, mushy things, but it wasn’t his place to complain. He’d asked for a spanking, after all.

He went to kneel, but found himself hold back by Harry’s grip on his arm. He blinked again, looking at Harry to see what was up still. “We’ll use the stoplight system, yeah?”

Cisco nodded, the stoplight system was always good. They usually used their safeword, but Harry liked using the stoplight system when he doubted that either of his boys were not actually in a right mindset to consent, and he did not hesitate in calling yellow and even red as often as he needed to, if it turned out that he was correct. And as much as Cisco needed the spanking he’d asked for, he knew somewhere in the back of his tired, sluggish mind that Harry was probably right and he was not in a mindset to properly consent… but he trusted Harry, and he trusted himself to still call Red if he really needed to.

“Okay, then. Kneel for me. And keep in mind that I love you, Ramon.” Cisco had no clue when his last name had become Harry’s pet name for him but well… it was cute, somehow. He nodded and went down on his knees – and nearly recoiled.

Right. _Uncooked_ rice grains. He winced as the tiny, hard grains dug painfully into the skin of his knees and shins and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He could do this.

“Alright, Cisco?” Harry asked from behind him, and Cisco heard the telltale sounds of his belt opening and being pulled out. A belting, then.

He didn’t reply straight away, but gave himself another few breaths to assess how he was doing. It would not do to upset his Dom by giving him false information, Harry deserved better than that. In the end though, he nodded and reached out to brace his arms against the wall. Maybe like that, his knees wouldn’t have to take the brunt of being rocked with the strokes of the belt.

“Can you give me a verbal reply?” Harry’s hand appeared on his shoulder and squeezed, and Cisco smiled to himself. Too much nodding, too little words. And that for someone who got regularly told that he talked too much.

“Yeah… yeah, I’m okay. It hurts… but like in a good way? I can already feel that sensation grounding me a bit… I’m good to start, but. Maybe don’t start at full force?”

“Of course not, we never do that when we try something new”, Harry reminded him and gave his shoulder another squeeze before receding.

“Alright. I’m going to spank you until you are completely drawn from your current mindset. Call Yellow if you need me to slow down or remove the rice, and Red for stopping, okay?”

Cisco closed his eyes and let his head fall forward, bracing himself for the first strike. “Okay, Sir. Green, Sir. Will you please spank me?”

“Why of course, if you ask so nicely”, Harry purred, and that was all he said before Cisco could hear his belt woosh through the air.

The impact was deliciously painful, as expected – but not as much on his ass as it was on his knees, rocking Cisco forward, putting pressure on his knees, and Cisco would swear he could feel every rice grain imprint itself right into his bones. He fell forward a bit with the blow but caught himself easily with his arms that were braced against the wall still. After a moment of breathless _pain_ , he pushed himself upright again, panting.

Wow.

He’d asked for harsh and intense, and he should have known that Harry would _deliver_. “Thank you”, he whispered, not quite feeling up to speaking up properly. “Fuck.”

“Hurts?” came the dry remark from behind him, and Cisco could only nod mutely. Of course Harry knew exactly what he was doing. “Good, that’s exactly what you asked for. Ready for another one?”

Despite himself, Cisco knew that he only way to get out of this was forward. And he wanted to be pulled out of his head… or at least to be put into a beautiful floaty subspace episode, and not be thrown around by vibes anymore.

“Yeah… yes, Sir. Can I please have another one?”

And of course, Harry complied.

The second strike was probably even worse, maybe just because Cisco knew how it would feel. He tried to brace himself agains the wall more strongly this time, and he still found himself rocked forward on his knees, pushed down onto the rice in a way that made him gasp with pain and made tears pool in his eyes already. He’d never been about to start crying that early. He took a few moments to breathe before pushing himself upright again. The throbbing on his ass was only an afterthought at this point, which told Cisco something about the power of mean, tiny, rock-hard grains, because Harry’s beltings sure packed a hefty punch.

“Thank you, Sir”, he murmured, and closed his eyes again. “May I have another?”

“But of course, dear,” was the reply before the belt was already snapping through the air again, painfully connecting with Cisco’s rear and making him feel like all the skin was being stripped of his knees and shins. He may actually have shouted or gasped aloud in pain, but he wouldn’t be able to tell. Only three strikes in, and his world had narrowed down to the screaming pain of where he was kneeling on the rice, the stinging of the expertly placed welts on his ass and the vague soreness to his palms where his hands were catching at least some of the force against the wall. He closed his eyes, and gave himself over to the sensations. They were _real_ , and all the images his mind was throwing at him were not. The wallpaper under his fingers was real, just the right roughened texture to allow his hands to catch on and not slide down. The grains of rice were real, digging themselves into his skin and being much too painful to ignore. The throbbing in his ass was real, giving him the most glorious, stinging pain that would always pull him out of his mind if he needed to feel grounded.

The third strike hit way too fast after the second one, and yet with enough time in between them that Cisco’s mind had been allowed to go for a little drift, but being rocked down onto the rice yanked his mind away from whatever tangent it had been trying to go off on, forcing him back into being aware of his body, grounded in the triangle of hands, ass, and knees. Triangles were good. Triangles were sturdy. He could hold himself up like this, with that trio of sensations. That was a good way to get himself grounded.

He gasped as strike number four hit him, making pain explode through all of his three grounding points at once, making it spark through his body like lightning sparked through the Flash’s body just before he started running. He spread his fingers out against the wall, pressing his sore palms against it to cool them a little, and spread his legs a little bit to get a firmer stance.

That was a mistake.

He whimpered as the rice grains under his knees shifted with movement, slipping out of the grooves they’d dug into his skin to form new ones, digging into his skin all over again in a terribly painful way.

He closed his eyes, and pushed his ass out, silently asking for more. There was something wet on his cheeks, but that couldn’t be, because the rice was still dry. That didn’t make sense, but that was okay. He was still grounded in his triangle, and subspace floats were okay. They were good. They were the good kind of not being grounded.

He could hear someone cry out as the next strike hit, and he wondered who would shout at the same time that he was being spanked so thoroughly. He also wondered why it sounded like the shout was coming form the direction of his own head.

By the time he’d put together that it must have been he himself who’d screamed, Harry’s belt was hitting him again, and he could feel himself slip a little, his palms rubbing painfully across the rough wallpaper. He was sure that his shins and knees must be torn bloody by now, shredded open by little malicious rice blades, but he could not feel any of the tell-tale wetness of blood yet.

There was an actual scream as pain exploded again, and it came from the direction of his own head again… as if he’d screamed this time. But he’d know if he’d done that, would he? There was more wet on his cheeks now and he had no idea how it had gotten there, maybe their ceiling was dripping?

More pain exploded in his ass, and his knees were on fire, and his palms felt so sore… he wasn’t sure what that was about, but the wall held him up and the rice was slicing into his bones and holding on to him, keeping him ankered, but he wasn’t sure what he was tethered to anymore, all the he had to hold on to was the pain, but it was good pain somehow even if it hurt and hurt and hurt and there was more pain now, another wave, and when had he fallen into the ocean and why did it have pain waves? But maybe that was why his cheeks were wet, wet was normal in the ocean, and waves were also normal in the ocean, it was okay, he was safe and good and there was pain and the rice was pushing into his knees but that was good and the wall held him up but walls don’t belong in the water and there was a new wave and it was high and was just rising rising rising rising rising – and crested, breaking down over him and flushing him completely, encasing him, taking him away along with it, wherever it would go, and he let himself go, gave himself over to floating in the pain, floating on the cotton cloud of dull throbbing, sharp stinging and painful needles sticking in his bones and just let himself be taken wherever they’d take him… they’d find a place for him.

The first thing Cisco noticed when he came to was that the arms around him were wrong. Or not wrong… they were right, but they were not expected. He couldn’t put together what was wrong with them, but he burrowed deeper into them anyway and wrapped his own arms around the body attached to them, snuggling close and nuzzling in with his eyes still closed as he let himself float a little bit more.

The next thing he noticed were the soft, bewitched, magical tones of the latest Taylor Swift album. Cisco blinked his eyes open, curious. Harry was not one for music, and if he did, he’d play something classical, not Cisco’s latest obsession.

Of course, the face smiling at him once he’d opened his eyes was not Harry’s, but Hartley’s. He had his own eyes closed but was smiling, clearly enjoying his snuggle time with Cisco. He’d even draped the weighted blanket around them.

Cisco loved Hartley so much.

He carefully lifted a hand and tapped Hartley on the shoulder, prompting him to open his eyes. Hartley was always so cute when he was squinting, trying to see without his glasses. Cisco had offered numerous times to build him glasses that were flexible enough that he could lie down with them (after his suggestion of contact lenses had been with nothing but icy stares), but apparently, Hartley preferred to take them off for lying down and then complaining that he couldn’t see anything. Through his squinty look, Hartley was grinning at him now though, and Cisco leaned down to kiss him.

“Where’s Harry?” he asked, trying to look around the living room. Waking up in Hartley’s arms certainly was a more than welcome surprise, but they all knew that Cisco preferred if whoever had scened with him was also there for the aftercare. So… where was Harry?

Hartley frowned, and then tapped his ear with one hand. Ah. He’d exchanged his hearing aid for a deafener. It seemed that Cisco wasn’t the only one having a terrible day with his powers then. He nodded, and instead of asking again simply made Harry’s name sign, followed by the most questioning look on his face he could conjure up. He wasn’t feeling up to proper sentences in ASL yet, he just wanted his cuddles now, and he was getting deprived of half of them. Also his ass was hurting, and his knees and shins still felt like they’d be stabbed with knitting needles, and the palms of his hands were sore and…

“Harry’s putting dinner together, we thought you’d keep floating until he’s back, he’ll be here the moment the casserole’s in the oven”, Hartley explained. Cisco knew that he didn’t like speaking when he didn’t have his hearing aids in, but it seemed that he was unwilling or too exhausted to use his hands… or maybe he liked having his arms snuggled around Cisco. Cisco liked that thought.

Before he could think about how he could find out how long it would be until Harry would come back, Harry appeared in his field of view, smiling at him and coming close, bending down to kiss him. Cisco eagerly returned the kiss, and then patted the space behind him. He only noticed now that there was plenty space there – Hartley and Harry must have pulled out the sleeping couch while he was floating, so they could all three of them fit onto it for snuggles.

One downside of being in a poly relationship: no couch was deep enough for regular couch snuggles with all of them.

“Dinner’s in the oven. How are you feeling, Ramon?” Harry asked, and Cisco smiled at the tender, gentle look on Harry’s face as he asked that question.

“I’m okay… need cuddles, and definitely lotion later”, he murmured, then watched Harry ruffle Hartley’s hair and give him a kiss as well before climbing in behind Cisco and wrapping his arms around him.

Hartley seemed unbothered by the fact that Harry and Cisco were talking, but they also all knew the sweet nothings that were exchanged for aftercare, and Cisco had the feeling that they were all too tired and worn out for proper conversation anyway. In a little bit, they’d change to ASL, and Hartley would be able to join in if he wanted to. For now, it seemed that all three of them were content to just float a bit, doze and snuggle and enjoy the proximity and their time together.

When Cisco shifted after a while, trying to find another comfortable position, his leg brushed over something small and hard on the couch – a rice grain.

“You know...whatever you’re making for dinner better not have any rice in it”, he grumbled, and Harry burst out laughing so hard that the vibration had Hartley looking up curiously. Cisco chuckled and relayed his statement to Hartley, who grinned and very gently flicked Cisco on the nose before retreating both his hands so he could sign with them.

“Mac and cheese. With extra veggies in it, because Harry’s a Dad”, he told Cisco, and earned himself a flick on the nose from Harry in reply.

“Veggies are healthy, and you both eat too little of them”, Harry explained. With his back towards him, Cisco couldn’t see him sign, but saw enough wavy hand-motion at the corner of his eyes to know that he was signing along with speaking. That meant there were no more arms around him, and Cisco pouted. Maybe they’d need a big screen with a speech-to-text device in their livingroom so they could talk _and_ cuddle even when Hartley was having a sound-is-overwhelm day. What were they three genius scientists for if they couldn’t have conversation and cuddles at the same time?

When he told his partners as much, the ensuing silence told him that both of them were just about developing plans and schematics in their heads already to make it happen. Well, Cisco would not complain if they actually would. He deserved his cuddles (which he now got again, since neither of them were using their hands for speaking) and he wasn’t about to just give them up.

Another shift of position made another rice grain rub against his leg, and he frowned. “Why’s so much rice on the sofa?” he grumbled, which prompted Harry to sit up and gently peel away the blanket, exposing Cisco’s knees and shins – still speckled with rice grains embedded in the skin.

“You were crying so hard and flinching at everything, I couldn’t really get them off. I’ll help you now, yes? And then we’ll get you some lotion for your legs and ass.”

Cisco nodded, looking at his legs that looked sore, angry red indentations left behind where the rice had fallen off already, but not a single drop of blood. Well. For something so innocent looking, rice sure could hurt a fucking lot. “My palms too”, he told them when they both helped to move him into an upright position, legs off the sofa so they could gently remove the rice grains from his legs. At Harry’s questioning glance, he held out his palms for Harry to inspect. They were doing okay, just a bit red and feeling a little chafed, but nothing that wouldn’t go away with a bit of lotion and love. Meanwhile, Hartley finished brushing off the rice off of one leg and sat down on the sofa next to Cisco, taking him in his arms again and nuzzling against the side of his face. Cisco embraced him with his free hand in return and leaned his head against Hartley’s. He was such a lucky, lucky guy.

It stung a bit to brush the rice off, but Hartley had been very gentle and so was Harry now, and Cisco sighed happily and stretched his legs out, looking at them. It looked a bit like a moon landscape now.

“I’m glad you didn’t think of legos”, he murmured, and Harry chuckled.

“No legos in the house. And those might actually have injured you those corners are dangerous”, he explained, then stood and kissed first Cisco, then Hartley on the forehead. Hartley made a little noise and nuzzled closer to Cisco, and it didn’t look like he was opening his eyes.

“Is he alright?” Cisco asked, and Harry nodded, ruffling both their hair.

“Yeah. He’s also very overwhelmed today, but wanted to help take care of you. You guys should cuddle while I get the lotion.” Cisco smiled himself and pulled Hartley a little closer. He wouldn’t do anything else than cuddling for the foreseeable future, really. Maybe eat whatever delicious concoction Harry was currently cooking up… and then cuddle some more.

“Harry?” Harry looked back, one foot already in the hallway.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For taking care of me. Of us. For giving us both just what we need.”

“Of course. You’re both important to me. I hope you’re feeling better now?”

“Definitely”, Cisco agreed. After his subspace float, he finally felt grounded in the here and now again, especially with his arms around his partner and a promise of more aftercare and cuddles yet to come. “And Harry?”

Harry stopped again, looking back at Cisco with a bit of an exasparated, but fond look. “Yes, Cisco?”

“I love you too.”


End file.
